Establishing a Management System: The Interaction of Power Shifts and Personality under Federal MBO
研究了联邦目标管理（MBO）系统在卫生、教育和福利部（HEW）早期建立和制度化的过程，发现权力转移与部长个性的互动是系统成功的关键，而非效率提升。
Management systems in the public sector have a high mortality rate; and a strikingly large number of systems falter and die in their very first years. Yet, a few systems survive the initial establishment period and continue for well over a decade. For example, both the planning programming budgeting (PPB) system and the by objectives (MBO) system have continued for over a decade in the Department of Defense. This article examines some of the reasons why a few such systems survive by focusing on the crucial early years of another longlived system-the MBO system in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), now the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Although some public administration literature seems to speak of MBO in the past tense, its importance continues. A number of the largest federal departments and agencies have continuing, institutionalized systems and a recent study of large American cities found more than 40 percent had MBO systems (and most were pleased with them).' Thus, the problem of establishing and institutionalizing such systems has continuing importance. This article examines the ways in which MBO shifts power within an organization. The interaction of these power shifts with the secretary's personality is often the primary determinant of whether a system succeeds. In fact, this analysis will argue that power shifts and other system-produced side benefits are far more important in institutionalizing a system than any increase in efficiency or effectiveness. This article focuses on the first five years (1971-1976) of HEW's MBO a system whose continuation and influence marks it as a clear success. HEW's system was the earliest, longest-lived, and most influential federal MBO effort. This study relied primarily on internal agency documents, but also included interviews with participants in the system.2 The focus was on secretarial-level systems; three other federal departments were also examined. Although MBO is often termed a management control system, its actual impact is rarely examined. The first section of this article examines the ways in which a new system shifts power in an organization, emphasizing the use of MBO-generated information as a political weapon. The second section argues that these shifts are in fact desirable. The final section examines the impact